The Financial Difference Between Remote Therapeutic Monitoring and Patient Engagement Platforms.
The recent telehealth explosion has produced an array of helpful tools. This abundance of resources means health systems must choose which platforms to offer. When they do so, it is important to consider financial viability, and not just platform features.
For example, many patient engagement platforms allow care teams to engage their patients between visits; these platforms may include text messaging, support sharing education, provide data-driven insights, or can send upcoming appointment reminders. Any of these features may be crucial to a particular health system, depending on their circumstances. But while these features may promote excellent care, these patient engagement platforms will cost health systems money.
In contrast, platforms with Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (or Remote Patient Monitoring) open a new revenue stream. These platforms offer not just patient engagement features, but also the tracking of patient progress through approved medical devices like sensors, heart rate monitors, or scales. RTM codes released in January 2022 allow health systems to receive reimbursement for Remote Therapeutic Monitoring platforms.
The Strive platform is a hybrid model. While we engage patients through messaging and education, we also allow care teams to track progress and detect complications using sensors and other devices.
It is important to note that no platform is billable unless the patient and a care team member engage through it regularly. This may require changing existing workflows that can help achieve better care that increases revenue.